Projects Straight 8 RPU build thread

When I lived in Albuquerque in the late 70’s it was wide open desert, can’t believe it’s yuppified to this point. So much for my fond memories of New Mexico


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I was moving folks cross country in the '70s and '80s. We called Rio Rancho "little New York". Sure moved a lot of them out there. SORRY, but I had to feed the kids.

Ben

 

LOL...I just can't win with the city all of a sudden.
I had moved my T project around back, no biggie. I have torn apart the 40 Ford donor chassis and have the engine and trans and the frame sitting on my 6x10 trailer. The trailer sits outside of my fence on the easement on the side of my property.
Well, I got another orange tag asking me to move it.....UGH! I guess this is what they were after the whole time...Oh well.
I think I have someone who wants the frame and I have the engine for sale on Craigslist but so far, no takers. I'll drop the price down some more and hope to move it by this weekend.

Bobby

 

One of your neighbors is the trouble maker, calling the city to complain since they aren't man enough to just come talk to you.

Nice RPU project, keep working on it when you can.

 

You want to try a gated community, you can get a fine for not bringing your trash can in on time...
It will definitely be a neighbour with nothing better to do...

 

I thought that at first. I've lived here a long time and know my neighbors pretty well. They are all pretty tolerant of my hobbies. Rio Rancho has a staff of Code Enforcement officers who drive around just looking for stuff. You should see them on a Friday or Saturday morning gleefully driving around picking up and taking away Yard Sale signs.

Hopefully next weekend I can hang my engine back between the frame rails and make a plan for fabbing up some engine mounts.

Thanks everyone for your comments. I appreciate the input
Bobby

 

My Packard hot rod

 

Nice real nice.

 

WOW!!
What an amazing car! Wasn't your car featured in a magazine a while back? I think I remember reading about it.
Fantastic car and you've done an amazing job with it. I love that color.
Thanks for sharing a picture of it.

Bobby

 

Let me know if you need a place to hide some stuff for awhile. The down side is that I'm far enough away that you'd have to pack a lunch when you came to visit your parts. You could make some room by letting me store your F-1

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You are just TOO kind. Your selfishness and willingness to take one for the team is duly noted....lol
I started doing some cleaning in the garage today. With some rearranging in the shed and my mad Tetris skills I think I can make room to fit the frame indoors. Since I installed a gas heater last year it will make fab work that much easier.
I'll just have to do the "crap shuffle" or the "parts hokey-pokey" and move the motorcycle outside when I need to do any grinding or welding but I think I can make it work.

Bobby

 

Offer still stands

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You're a good man, thanks
I'll let you know if it comes to that

 

had me hooked as soon as i read straight 8.

 

My dad built a 28 Model a coupe for a guy with a straight 8 Pontiac. They stretched the frame and still had to change the back 2 plugs fro under the dash. It was the car that got me started in hot rodding.
When we first moved to Fl. we rented a house and got busted by the HOA for the wrong colored trash bags. We moved right after that.

 

I just found this build- and I'm giddy as a school girl! I like that you didn't hang the front axle off the front suicide; that might have made it look a little too long. I think you nailed it.

 

I'm glad you like what I have going, thanks for your vote of confidence.
Yea, a suicide front end is a great look on a standard style "T" bucket (and yes, I'd love to have one of those) but I'm kind of going towards an older, more traditional type build. The weather here has been great lately and I've been dying to try and get some work done on this thing. Unfortunately life keeps getting in the way....hopefully soon I can squeeze in a little project time.

Thanks again
Bobby

 

Bobby- hows about an update? been thinking a lot about this build lately.

 

Thanks for the interest.
Not too much to update as I haven't had much of a chance to get back at it. It seems like my time isn't my own.
I've done a few small things. I got the Ultramatic transmission and transmission cooler separated from the engine. I picked up a replacement oil pan from Ebay (mine has a pinhole leak). Cleaned up some more in the garage, etc.
Other than that I've pretty much been stalled out.....but hope to get back at it soon, I'm having an itch to get back to fabrication!

Bobby

 

A little progress.... OK, very little, but to me it felt huge.
Last fall I had to move the whole shebang out to the back yard. Since then I've been trying to clear space in the garage so that I could bring it indoors and close to the tools. Yesterday I decided I'd stuff in the garage no matter what. So this morning I brought the rear axle around, then the frame and front axle and finally the body. I got it all tucked into the garage.
I also managed to fab up some engine lifting plates to give me a couple of good places to hook a chain to the beast. Now that its inside I'm hoping to be able to get some time in the evenings to start swinging the engine over the rails and start fabbing engine mounts etc.

Naturally, after I set the body on the rails I had to climb in and make the obligatory "vroom vroom" noises. In my head I put a few hundred miles on this thing today.

 

Bobby
With your skills, you could build a nice set of headers & an intake manifold from tubing to accommodate (2) 4 bbl carbs, since you already have the other original carb.
Besides, who has a head with the word Thunderbolt. Too cool
Speaking about pools, when I was just starting my working career, we would meet in the mornings at a coffee shop & chat about the days work. There was a General Contractor that was always having fights with the city & County.
This was in the late sixties and Counties were just beginning to use aircraft to check on properties.
This guy went and bought a very large blue tarp, shaped like a swimming pool and laid it out in his back yard.
It wasn't more than a month or two that he received a letter telling him that his property taxes were going to be increased because of this expensive pool. He, of course, denied the pool & the taxes, and ultimately made the County look like real fools. It made the local paper.
Jim

 

Jim,
Thanks for the vote of confidence. I might try my hand at fabbing up an intake and exhaust but it won't be until after this thing is up and running. Too many other things to focus on first.

That's a great story on the fake pool! I like it when people find innovative ways to stick it to the man.....LOL

Bobby

 

I made a few small baby steps forward...
I fabbed some quickie engine lift plates for the Straight 8 and a keyhole plate for the chain. Now I can lift the engine fairly flat and level. I figured I'd have to swing this thing over the rails many times to get engine mounts and steering box mounts figured out. I know it doesn't seem like much, but as crazy as my life has been lately, it felt good to make any progress at all

 

Hope you enjoyed the ride !! Go Bobby go !


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Finally!!
Something to report. I've finally made a few steps forward. I have managed to fab up some engine mounts. The driver's side was pretty straightforward, I just had to bolt a flat plate to the engine block and a couple of pieces of tubing with the old standby biscuit type mount.
The passenger side took a bit more as the oil pump sticks out the side of the block right where the mount goes. So, for the passenger side I used the original Packard bracket to bolt to the block and then fabbed up a tower to come up from the frame to meet it.
It only too 3 tries to get the passenger side built. I first fabbed it up using 2" tubing. I was just about to weld it to the frame when my neighbor came over and we started in on the frosty beverages. I'm sure glad we did and I didn't get it welded to the frame as I had to scrap it. There wasn't room for the lower part of the biscuit.....oops.
So, I started over with 2.5" tubing. This time I had it all set to go and managed to cut the tubing to length at the wrong angle...DOH! The third time it all worked, got the tubing cut, fish-mouthed, cut at the right angle, recess for the lower biscuit, etc.
To make all of these cuts I bolted my porta-band to my table and put a zip tie around the trigger mechanism.
The next step will be to weld both sides the frame.....Hopefully this weekend.

 

I have a Milwaukee like yours but it has a work platform bolted to it for a bigger surface. I would be lost without it. Mounts came out nice! Keep at it.

 

Nice Job.

 

Looks like the metal cups on the rubber mount will hit each other with weight on them.

 

I hope not. If so, maybe I can file them back a little bit. Once I get the brackets welded to the frame Ican test it with weight on it and see what happens. Hopefully soon

Thanks everyone
Bobby

 

Lookin good Bobby, keep it going.